Shutting down the Ritz - Company to close hotel at Lake Las Vegas

11 February 2010

Ritz-Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, a five-diamond hotel at the troubled resort community in Henderson, told its 340 employees Monday that it will close on May 2.

Transcontinental Corp. opened the 349-room hotel in 2003, but Deutsche Bank took over ownership of the property last year through an affiliated company called Village Hospitality and decided to stop funding the resort.

“The unprecedented economic downturn has had a significant impact on the hotel’s operations. As a result, Village Hospitality LLC concluded that continuing to fund operations was no longer economically viable and consequently decided to close the hotel effective May 2, 2010,” Assistant Vice President Scott Helfman said in a statement.

“The entire Las Vegas region has been financially impacted, probably more than any other region in the United States,” said Vivian Deuschl, corporate vice president of Ritz-Carlton, which operates the hotel.

She pointed to a decline in individual visitors and an even bigger drop in group business.

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“It’s not a reflection on the hotel,” Deuschl said.

The Ritz-Carlton is one of eight Southern Nevada hotels with AAA’s highest five-diamond rating for 2010.

The workers have excelled in their work, she said. “This is a very sad day for them. It’s a sad day for all of us.”

The hotel has two restaurants and a spa, but two of the golf courses at Lake Las Vegas have been shut down during the luxury community’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

A local developer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was offered an opportunity to buy the Ritz-Carlton for $20 million but summarily rejected it.

The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas filed for reorganization in 2008 to avoid foreclosure.